1. Field of the Invention
The disclosures herein generally relate to an image forming apparatus, and especially relate to an image forming apparatus including a fixing device with plural heating elements arranged in a main scanning direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some electrophotographic image forming apparatuses include a fixing device, which selectively heats an image region, based on image information. In such an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, two thermopile arrays, which are arranged obliquely, detect a temperature of a detection object in a space-saving way. However, the detection of a temperature by the image forming apparatus, in which the thermopile arrays are arranged obliquely, has a problem whereas detection accuracy for a temperature of a central region of the detection object is lower than that of the other regions.
Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2009-98361 discloses an image forming apparatus, in which a contactless thermistor is arranged at the central region of the detection object. In the image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2009-98361, detection by the contactless thermistor and detection by thermopiles correct each other, and detection accuracy for a temperature by the contactless thermistor and the thermopiles is improved.
However, in the image forming apparatus disclosed in Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2009-98361, the temperature detected by the thermistor is corrected only by the temperature measured by the thermopile, and it is not possible to detect the temperature of the detection object by the thermopile array without the thermistor.